Dive Brief:

• Google is making its engineers available to its cloud customers as part of a new model for cloud services, according to Forbes.

• Google calls the new service "Engineering Support." It includes three tiers of prices based on how fast a response time is needed; the faster the response time, the higher the price. The Home Depot and Pivotal are currently testing the service.

• Cloud customers typically pay for support based on how much they use the service, but Google CRE director Dave Rensin told Forbes that a Google customer recently convinced him to try a new approach.

Dive Insight:

Tech leaders that rely on online services as a critical part of their business may find Google's new offer appealing because services that go down or work poorly can quickly translate to huge losses.

For Google, it's another way to differentiate its cloud business from rivals Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Google has been introducing new and improved cloud functions constantly. Last month, Google announced it improved its free cloud tier and expanded its free cloud trial program.

Google has work to do. A study released by Synergy Research Group in February found AWS now controls about 40% of the cloud market, while Microsoft, Google and IBM together control only about 23%.